Best place to buy a house (Pittsburgh, Lebanon: houses, safe neighborhood, good schools)

[ossewa]

Mt. Lebanon.

It is a fairly large "streetcar" suburb with 30k people, divided into distinct sub-neighborhoods. A 200k budget means you won't be living in the snobby areas that give Mt. Lebanon a bad rep with the rest of Pittsburgh. Look for a house in the triangle formed by Cochran, Bower Hill, and Washington roads; it has a great mix of architecture and is within easy walking distance of the library, schools, and the central business district. We have lived here six years and really enjoy it. My first choice, to be completely honest, was not the South Hills but rather Allegheny West or Manchester for the amazing old houses. My wife insisted upon quality schools and not being afraid all the time, so I lost the debate in round one... Since you put schools and safety high on your list, I think you would love it here.

If you are a Republican, consider Upper St. Clair. Its like the evil twin of Mt. Lebanon...

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by ossewa

If you are a Republican, consider Upper St. Clair. Its like the evil twin of Mt. Lebanon...

Are you saying that Mt. Lebo is made up of mostly Democrats!

[Aran]

More importantly... Are you saying Republicans are evil?

[Sideblinded]

Rent before you buy. You can live here and figure it out in a year.

[robrobrob]

I guess it depends on what type of house you want. For example, if you want a typical 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath suburban home with a two car garage , then Mt. Lebanon may be out of your price range. However, if you are open to a smaller, older house than you can afford Mt. Lebanon.

There are also those that don't need to be close to downtown. I have relatives that live way out east, Penn Twp or Harrison City. This wouldn't work for me since I work in town but they don't so they don't mind it. Out there they get a bigger newer house for the same price as my house.

[rhondee]

Babyteeth 4-$200k will buy ALOT here. That's enough to buy a decent house, new car and all new furnishings for the house.
Brandnew 82-You mentioned Bellevue which is where I've lived for the past 20 years and I'm very happy here. It's very convenient to both downtown and the suburbs. It's solidly middle class but has a varying level of incomes from lower income to the local TV weatherman lives here. It's only about 1 square mile but ranks very high on the walkability scale with post office , supermarket, shops and restaurants on main street. Carnegie Library is in a big old victorian house in a park.

My sister and brother-in-law moved here from out of state in 2003 and bought a fantastic 4 bedroom brick home for $72K.( You can find nice homes here for under $100K) It has pocket doors in the living room and a neat pantry room off the kitchen.It doesn't have a garage but street parking on an old brick street that is quiet.
The only bad thing about Bellevue is despite being a first ring suburb the homes are densely packed and many rental buildings here as well.
The elementary schools have a good rep but the high school is mediocre. The only good thing about the high school is the class sizes are small.( last year graduation was only around 115 students) Everyone walks to school here- there are no school buses.It takes about 8-10 minutes to drive downtown . The public trans. through Bellevue is fantastic.
Nearby communities to also consider with great housing values are West View and Brighton Heights( the side closer to Bellevue)
check out www.enjoybellevue.org

[Mrs. Burberry]

My brother lived in Bellevue for a year before moving to Indiana, PA for grad school. You could get a nice home there for under 100K easily. I have heard mixed results about living there, but he liked it, and I do believe he intends to come back to the area after grad school to raise a family, etc. The Northgate school district is actually not that bad. Everyone wants to send their kids to North Allegheny but I think education is largely what you make of it.

I am looking into buying Downtown myself. I am finding plenty of condos in my range, on which I could comfortably put a down payment of 30%, but I hesitate to buy just yet. I am concerned I might not actually like living downtown, and I am even more concerned about resale values. This isn't a condo-type city...people tend to buy homes. I could buy a big house in Lawrenceville, but with the bus situation being up in the air, I hesitate. I bus exclusively...so I want to keep my options open. I think it's crappy that the Port Authority keeps threatening cuts every year.

I enjoy going to Mt. Lebanon for shopping, though I'm not awfully familiar with it overall. It's a nice place from what I've seen. I know lots of people don't like it, but two of my colleagues live there and wouldn't have it any other way. If you like it, I say go for it!

[rhondee]

[quote=Mrs. Burberry;15838630]My brother lived in Bellevue for a year before moving to Indiana, PA for grad school. You could get a nice home there for under 100K easily. I have heard mixed results about living there, but he liked it, and I do believe he intends to come back to the area after grad school to raise a family, etc. The Northgate school district is actually not that bad. Everyone wants to send their kids to North Allegheny but I think education is largely what you make of it.

Yeah, I don't have any kids in the district right now so I'm no longer in the loop as to what parents think and how it ranks, but my niece graduated a few years ago and has been doing great at Carlow U so I think she got a good prep for college in High School. Like you said, education is what you make of it no matter where you're at. But I think a big advantage is that it's a small high school and every teacher there knows every student there by name.

If I had school age children now I think I would move a few blocks to be inside the city for the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship.

[ddicorcia1]

Cranberry Twp. would be your best bet.

[butch81385]

Living on the west side of the city I could never imagine living over on the east side. I couldn't deal with tunnel traffic every time I wanted to go into the city. That being said, many people love it over there.

I grew up in Kennedy Township (part of McKees Rocks and Coraopolis, halfway to the airport from downtown), and when I was looking to buy a house I searched in the near communities. I ended up getting a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, mostly finished basement, 1 car garage, on about .5 acres for $130. The neighborhood is incredible, the school district (Montour) is decent enough (renovating the high school now, though it has its problems like any school does), and has lots of restaurants, shopping, and is an easy drive to the city.

Of course, if you are looking to walk to dinner or the grocery store, etc, Robinson is definitely not the place for you.

I would agree with the post above about renting for a year to explore all of the neighborhoods that interest you. It also will let you figure out what your commute would be like from different areas.

Hope that helps!